A university teacher, seriously interested in writing and even published several times, experiences psychological difficulties with writing works of large prose. Previous attempts to “master” the novel ended in shambles, and the last one also resulted in a barely averted disaster, when his house and all the family members almost burned down (freaking out, the failed author decided to burn the problematic manuscript). But then, quite by accident, the main character comes up with the plot of a fascinating western and, so that nothing distracts him from the creative process, he takes a vacation and goes alone to a forest cottage, inherited from his deceased parents...© igor14Work on a brilliantly conceived western is stalled until The hero, under strange circumstances, does not meet the talking rat. She offers to finish the novel for him - but for this, some of the writer’s acquaintances must die... The story “Rat” from the collection “If It Bleeds” 2020.